Socio-Economic Profiling of Spices Actors in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the socio-economic profile of rural households engaged in spices enterprises in Oyo state, Nigeria. Different spices actors were discovered in the state - spices producers (PDRs) gatherers (GRRs) and producer-gatherers (PGRs). The study consisted of 108 actors who were purposively selected and sampled. Data were collected by use of structured questionnaires and were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The result revealed the mean age of spices PDRs, GRRs and PGRs as 47.34±12.3, 49.03±9.27 and 48.75±8.38 respectively. Most (90.0%) of PDRs, 51.4% of PGRs were male while 90.0% of GRRs were female. Most (71.7%) of PDRs, 88.6% of PGRs had no formal education while most (50.0%) of GRRs had vocational education. The mean household size and annual income were 10.86±6.58, 7.03±1.60 and 6.3±2.05 and ₦146,627.48±122,926.3, ₦44,115.3±26,719.7 and ₦56,812.5±39,287.5 by PDRs, GRRs and PGRs respectively. The secondary occupation of most (84.9%) of PDRs and 82.9% of PGRs was other crops farming while that of 40.0% of GRRs was trading. Hot pepper and turmeric were cultivated by 97.6% and 62.8% of PDRs, African black pepper and Ethiopian pepper were gathered by 100.0% and 98.3% of GRRs while hot pepper was cultivated by 100% and African Black pepper was gathered by 85.8% of PGRs. Most (86.0%) and 83.0% of PDRs belonged to farmers group and cooperative societies, 100.0% and 95.0% of GRRs belonged to cooperative societies and religious groups while 97.1% and 91.7% of PGRs belonged to cooperative societies and work exchange groups. The study therefore recommends that participation in social groups could promote the activities of spices actors in the state and across the country and consequently enhance the benefits of spices among households.